Biomonitoring of Human Exposure: From Individual to Group Exposure Assessment

Dear colleagues,

The necessity of using human biomonitoring (HBM) for chemical health risk assessment in both the general population and workers has recently been brought to the fore. The analysis of environmental matrices may be insufficient to demonstrate the amount of compounds absorbed into the body. The analysis of biomarkers in biological samples to determine the internal dose is therefore an important asset in defining prevention strategies. Nevertheless, the interpretation of the HBM results might be challenging, since the absorbed dose is determined by many factors, including chemical concentration, the agent’s physicochemical properties, exposure duration, as well as individual factors including uptake, metabolism, etc. Classically, urine and blood are used to assist in the identification of health hazards. Nevertheless, other biological matrices might give access to a longer physiological half-life of the target compounds (e.g., in hair) or might be directly related to the target organs (e.g., exhaled breath condensate), and thus might be more relevant for health hazard identification.

In this Special Issue, we intend to demonstrate that the individual analysis of biomonitoring is a useful tool for personal exposure evaluation, providing information not given by inhalation and dermal exposure assessment. The appropriate utilization of HBM can further highlight personal living and/or working conditions and practices, taking into account individual differences and allowing more individualized measures to prevent exposure by changing individual behavior. Furthermore, HBM can help in identifying unintentional and unexpected exposures. Real-life examples from different occupational and private indoor environments are expected to showcase the benefits of HBM at individual as well as at group levels (e.g., epidemiological studies intended to link exposure to health data). Subsequently, the articles in this Special Issue are expected to give advice on the most suitable approaches for choosing the most appropriate biomarker and/or matrix, by showing their respective advantages and limitations.

Dr. Radu-Corneliu Duca
Guest Editor

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